Nokia 5140

For its foray into the wild, Nokia takes a whole different approach. The 5140 has as many features as any modern phone, but is still ready for some rough handling. Indeed, its rubber exterior should enable it to handle more than its share of drops and spills.

For a rugged phone, the 5140 appears surprisingly small, yet it's almost bristling with features. One of the neatest and most useful for outdoor applications is a compass. Other unique features include a bubble level, flashlight, thermometer, and fitness coach application, although we're not sure what the decibel meter is for.

Like most modern phones, there is a VGA camera, which can also take video. Unlike most modern phones, it has an FM radio (with optional headphones), a voice recorder, a calculator, and a stopwatch. There's even support for push-to-talk functionality, although no GSM carrier yet offers this feature.

This phone did fine in our durability tests, although we saw the usual LCD slowdown. The Nokia 5140 is compatible with both T-Mobile's and Cingular's networks, and is available on Nokia's website for $249. If you're into the great outdoors, the premium is worth it, but otherwise, we'd wait for either a carrier to pick it up, or at least for a big sale.